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Hi all, it's been a long while since i upgraded anything on my mountain bike, well over a decade now and whilst riding my bike still brings a smile to my face my last big outing, the Vittoria mountain bike marathon, made me realise that 1X drivetrains definitely have their advantages. I'm still running a 3X9 mix of Shimano (crank set) and Sram (shifters and derailleurs).
Now it's been so long since i bought anything that i'm at a bit of a loss at where to even start, and i don't have a lot of money to play with either. For the time being i want to keep my existing wheels so what ever i do get has to fit the free hub.
Ideally i think i'd like to go 1X10 and have been looking at some of the Microshift offerings. So my questions are, will the cassettes fit my freehub, and can i fit a new chain ring on to my XT cranks (I'm assuming i'll need one of those narrow/wide ones) and what's good in that respect. Also is the Microshift stuff any good?
Thanks in advance.
Bazz, I upgraded to 10 speed Microshift Advent X @ a month ago from a Shimano 9 speed setup. Not noticed any difference TBH, although Shimano stuff will be more readily available, eventually!!
Running with Shimano XT 755 cranks and an On-One 32 tooth chain ring.
Deore 11 speed is the best bang for your buck. You'll keep your cranks and free hub and get a good range with stuff that just works.
If you're on 9 speed at the moment, 9, 10 & 11 speed Shimano or other HG compatible 10 & 11 speed cassettes will fit, such as Sunrace, SRAM SX and the various ebay offerings.
For 10 or 11 speed the chain ring will be fine as the inner dimensions of the chains are all the same, you can get narrow wide chainrings for well under a tenner off eBay and they're really rather good, I've got a selection for my lad's CX / Road bike to suit different gearing restrictions and races.
Microshift stuff is good in my experience and at the moment may well be more readily available.
Great stuff, thanks. It comes a surprise to me that an 11 speed cassette will fit my freehub, I thought that was the point of 'Boost' but like i said i am well out of the loop.
I'm in no rush to be honest, my wife keeps pointing at things around the house for me to direct any spare income at so i can wait for a Shimano re-stock!
@inbred853 where about's did you purchase from if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.
I've recently gone 11 speed, you can now get Deore rear mech that works with 10 and 11 speed and you can go 11-46 or 11-51 cassette with 10 and 11 speed respectively. All this will work on an HG freehub body and gives you plenty of options depending on what sort of range you are looking for
If you go Shimano, consider an XT shifter. The XT has the advantage of 2 gear shifts to a higher gear. I find when spinning sat down I need about 2 gears higher when I stand and pedal.
@bazz, I set up an alert on CRC and bought when they were next available.